SHOP

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September 2009

September 30, 2009

You guys are the best- I mean, THE BEST. I can't wait to try out all the recipes (and feel free to continue adding if you have some good ones!) I'm going to post a few every week over the next while so check back for some great dinner options.

Salt and pepper chicken breasts to taste and lay in a single layer
in a 9x13 baking dish. Pour sauce mixture over chicken breasts and bake
in preheated oven for 45 to 50 min, until chicken is done.

*That is how the recipe was when I found it. I made some changes. I
like my curries with rice so I cut up the chicken in bite size chunks
and cooked it with salt and pepper in a frying pan. I cooked the sauce
in a sauce pan added more broth to make it more of a gravy and added
the chicken in the sauce pan. I didn't use the oven.

Thanks, Amy!

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Since we are still a small family of 4, we only used 2 chicken breasts and sliced them up into strips before putting them into the pan, but made the full sauce recipe as stated. We also decided to serve it on rice. I added about 1 C of raisins to the curry mixture (blame our Indian neighbors upstairs, they are always talking about 'raisin rice'!) This was a great recipe even if you have kids. We served the rice separately with steamed veggies (we did broccoli). Also, you can reserve some of the chicken and grill it up without the sauce. Kate loved the curry, Henry shys away from anything saucy (including any and all condiments.) You can also omit the chicken if you are vegetarian- the curry was soo good! We LOVED this recipe, give it a try, i'm sure you'll love it, too!

September 27, 2009

I'm starting to run out of steam, folks. Dinner feels so overwhelming. I'm supposed to figure out what to make every.single.night? Huh? Did I agree to this? I'm all for cold cereal- I mean it's rather delicious, don't you think? These later stages of pregnancy leave me feeling exhausted and by the time dinner rolls around- I'm just over it. I imagine it would help if I planned meals out in advance for the week....you know, it wouldn't leave me searching the fridge at 5:00 trying to throw something together for dinner. But we eat, we always do but I'm in need of some new, quick, fresh, delicious recipes (enter:YOU)

Can you help a girl out? Here's some help: we don't usually buy red meat (we eat it, we just don't buy it) so it's chicken for us (or we're happy to do vegetarian) I'm not crazy about white saucy, cassaroley things. We love pasta, rice, the kids will eat pretty much any veggie. Salads are good- have a good dinner salad? We like Mexican, soups...we have all the tools for homemade pizza. I prefer to make everything from scratch so if you have a recipe that doesn't include 'pre-made anything' send it my way! I realize I'm sounding picky- we'll eat anything that's not nailed down.

Anyway, if you could post your favorite recipe in the comments section, I'll pick a few out to make this week and post the results here.It would mean so much and who doesn't need some new dinner idea's right? I'll share Grandma's roll recipe because it's pretty irresistible! We (by 'we' I mean 'I') made these this afternoon.

Betty Lohrke “Casserolls”

A quicker roll than refrigerator rolls, this is a good bet for finger sandwiches.

**We don't buy shortening so I checked a few online resources which said you can substitute it for butter. 1 C shortening= 1 C + 2 Tbsp butter. I'm now realizing I completely added the wrong amount of butter. 2/3 is = to 11 Tbsp and I just halved that by adding 5 1/2 TBSP, which is wrong...but it still worked out...Also, we halved the recipe and it made just under 2 dozen rolls.

September 21, 2009

I made these chocolate oatmeal bars for an event a few weeks ago. I got the recipe from a friend when we lived in Boston. I think they may originally hail from Betty Crocker...but I have the recipe hand written in an old recipe book that's 11+ years old, so one can't be too sure. Anyway- I don't make these that often and I always wonder why because they are so flipping good. To good to horde, that's for sure, soooo...I'm sharing with you.

Pour the chocolate mixture into the 9" x 13" pan over the oatmeal mixture. Sprinkle the remaining oat mixture over the top. Bake @ 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Allow to cool (at least an hour) before cutting.

To get these to turn out just right, I line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper so they are easier to slide out (I cut them once they are out of the pan and on a cutting board.) Also, if you have them time, I would let them sit overnight. It seems like just an hour or two still leaves them gooey (not a bad thing) but the extra time allows them to set a bit more.

On a side note, I've upgraded on typepad and am now able to respond to your comments in the comments section (go there and you can see what I'm talking about) I think I got everyone who had a question in quilting post. If not, just email me.

AND can you believe that Tuesday is the first day of FALL??? Huzzah! I love Fall!!

Thanks for all the kind well-wishes. I'm doing about the same, but it means a lot to know you are here.

September 20, 2009

Old Mrs. ZinkHad a purple sinkA polka-dotted car that wouldn’t go very farShe had an orange duck that couldn't even quackNow isn't this a silly songSo what do you think of that that that that? What do you think of that?

My grandma passed away last Tuesday morning. She made up that song when we were kids and used to sing it to us. The grandchildren (over 20 of us) got up and sang it on Saturday at her funeral. The funeral was really nice. I'm so glad we were able to go up to Utah for it, even if we were only there for 48 hours.

This is a picture of my Grandma Betty & Grandpa Kenny on their wedding day in front of their first home here in Westchester, CA. My Grandma missed my Grandpa so much. He died about 14 years ago and she could not wait to be reunited with him. It’s hard to feel sorrow for her because you know she is on cloud nine, just thrilled to be with her parents, sister & sweetheart again. Finally.

This is my Grandma with her Mother, my Great-Grandma Ava. She lived to be 100 and died only a few years ago. We would always tell my Grandma she could live for another 15 years (she was not so thrilled at the prospect!)

My Grandma used to work for a company called the “Automatic Screw Machine Co.” We all thought that was so funny. I need to make shirts that say that. Here she is on the right, working hard! Grandma was the queen of corn, as in corny jokes. And she had the most hilarious laugh. I was telling Henry about coming to Utah and the funeral and I asked him what he remembered about Grandma, and he said she was the one that had the M&M’s. The woman loved chocolate and turquoise. She had turquoise carpet. It gave her warm fuzzies. We are going to miss her but have comfort in knowing that she was not taken one second before her time. We love you!

(Betty, third from the left)

We drove back home today and have the burial tomorrow. It's been so good to be around family and celebrate the life of my Grandmother. She was loved and we miss her already.

September 16, 2009

Mama & Kate, Malibu Beach, Sept 2009Hi there, blogland. Long time, no chat. These past few months, and weeks especially have been really hard. I've been feeling myself slipping into a bit of depression (read: lots of crying and general despair) that has left me not wanting to be in this space, or any space really. But I need to, it will be good for me, so I am back. For now at least. Plus I finished the quilt and have no one to share it with. Wanna see?

The children were out in the courtyard earlier today enjoying some popcorn (an all time favorite snack) on the quilt. So I used all fabrics from my scrap bag and cut them into 2 1/2" widths (the length varied on each strip.) I heard of a technique once (I swear I am not making this up) where you throw all the scraps into a bag and sew whatever pieces you pull out together. So I did just that. I cheated only a few times when I pulled the same fabric pattern out twice, and had to throw it back in and grab a different piece. A couple of patterns ended up being sewn close together, but overall, I'm really happy with how it turned out. The only piece I had that was big enough to cover the back of the quilt was this red & white polka dot that I picked up at a thrift shop last time I was in Utah: The batting is pretty light-weight, so this makes a perfect blanket that we'll probably keep in the car for last minute trips to the beach and park. Everything made to use this blanket I had in my stash with the exception of the binding- which is Amy Butler (I think the pattern is Belle?) that I went and purchased because I loved the pattern so much. I really wanted to hand-sew the binding on this one, which I did. It only took a few nights to finish and c'mon how about those corners. Good, no? The quilt didn't end up being the size of Texas, but did end up being just slightly smaller than a twin size, which I think will be perfect. I love it. They love it, too!

September 03, 2009

I'm back on my MAC hoping this thing doesn't burst into a ball of flames! Here's a little sneak peak of the appliques that will be listed in the shop tomorrow. Henry is modeling the Tree applique with all it's colorful Fall leaves. We've also got:

These are all iron-on (I usually sew on top just because I prefer the look of it) and can be ironed onto book bags, shirts, Halloween treat-bags, etc., basically any fabric. Perfect for your kids, or a great gift to give.

See you here tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. PST. These sold out last year.I'm just sayin'.

September 02, 2009

My MacBook is on the verge of dying. I took it to the MAC store yesterday (with ahem...5 days left on the warranty) and the genius working the 'genius bar' said I need to get everything backed-up asap because it's a ticking time bomb. I believe the words "Russian Roulette" were used, so now I'm too freaked out to even turn it on. I have over 7,000 photos on there. Nothing has been backed up. Because it was ahem...dropped once or twice in it's 3 year life means the warranty is not valid. Boo on that. This all means I am on Chris' computer and am scrolling through his photos to see what I can use for a little 'shop update' pic. This is what I got. If you know Chris, you aren't surprised. The man loves a good samba (not really.)

The shop update on Friday and will have more appliques (akin to these) but will be a combination of Fall/Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas designs. They will be sold in a set of 10 for $20 (a screaming deal, I tell ya!) and there will be 25 sets available. That's all the fabric I've got, folks. Also I will have 4 or 5 scrapbag grab-bags so you can start your own crazy quilt (as seen here) I'll post pics of the appliques tomorrow.